News tagged ‘UK’

Just as it was expected, Apple has officially announced the long-anticipated Apple Watch. In this short post, I will try to tell you about the most innovative features, prices and the start of sales of the smartwatch.

Back in October, the guys from Cupertino launched their NFC-based mobile payments service called Apple Pay in the USA. Currently the system is incredibly popular among the American customers. It can boast of the support of the largest banks and financial institutions, retailers, supermarkets and cafes. Moreover, according to Apple's page devoted to the partners working with Apple Pay, the company has earlier this week added 15 new banks to the list of those that support the advanced payments method.

Several weeks after the rumor about Apple’s plans to launch Apple Pay in the UK in the first half of 2015, a new one appeared on the Net, which suggests that the guys from Cupertino are currently thinking about the launch of the NFC-based payments service in Canada in the near future. In fact, reliable sources believe that the debut of the new service will take place in March.

It is Sunday today and that means it is high time we talked about the most interesting posts of the last seven days. Although due to all kinds of holidays last week was rather boring, there’re still some articles worth your attention. Let’s take a look at them.

Bank of America has recently released a new ad highlighting the iPhone 6 and Apple Pay. In such a way one of the largest banks in the USA has joined the army of banks and retailers that promote the NFC-based payments service created by the guys from Cupertino and launched in the United States of America back in October.

In the short clip, which is available below, Apple Pay is called "the new, easy, secure, smart way to pay with a simple touch." Well, after watching the ad it is very difficult not to agree with this statement, don’t you think so?

The guys from the Cupertino have recently raised prices for their developer programs in a number of European countries. The reporters from an Apple-related German blog called Apfelpage write that German developers now should pay as many as €99 ($119) for the developer subscription for one year. Earlier those who wanted to develop apps for Apple’s gadgets had to pay €80 ($96), so the change in pricing is quite noticeable, I must admit.

The stores are closed, which means that one more “Lucky Bag” promotion in Japan is over. Most of the customers, who decided to risk and spend about $300 on sealed Fukubukuro packages, managed to obtain such goods as Apple TV set-top boxes, external battery packs, backpacks, iPods, Beats headphones and iTunes gift cards. Moreover, some of the Japanese shoppers were lucky enough to get Apple’s iMac, MacBook Air or iPad Air.

According to the latest complaints that may be found on Apple Support Communities website, a number of users have encountered with an issue with Apple Pay that prevents them from adding a new card to the service after restoring the iPhone 6. The problem is reportedly connected with the security settings of Apple Pay aimed at protecting sensitive data from thieves as well as with some flaws in the hardware and software of Apple’s handsets.

According to the latest report from The Telegraph, the guys from Cupertino are currently planning to launch Apple Pay in the United Kingdom in the first half of 2015. The reporters claim that Apple is in talks with major banks of the country, which are a bit worried about security and privacy settings of the new payments service, but in general are pleased with the success of Apple Pay in the USA. Moreover, as noted by reliable sources, banks look forward to launching the system in the UK.

I have a piece good news for all the Japanese customers. Apple has recently confirmed that it will arrange its traditional annual “Lucky Bag” promotion on January 2nd at the retail stores across the country.

Samsung has recently closed one of its largest flagship stores, Samsung Experience Store located at the shopping center called Westfield Stratford City in London is no longer working. Currently, there’re only nine flagship stores of the South Korean company in the country and this number looks ridiculous of to compare it to the number of Apple Retail Stores. In case you don’t know, the guys from Cupertino have 38 locations across the UK. Three stores are situated in London - at Covent Garden, Regent Street and White City. Moreover, Apple is probably planning to open some more.

Apple has recently added PayPal as a new payment option on its official online store in the USA and the UK. Earlier, one of the world's most popular payments services was available only on the App Store, but now you can use it to pay for real goods, such as iPhones, iPads, accessories etc. from Apple's retail store.

Ahead of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus launch this September, Apple's iPhone 5c became the top selling smartphone in Britain. In fact, this handset was so popular that it even outsold the Samsung Galaxy S5 and the iPhone 5s. And that is an impressive result, I must admit.

Although both iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus haven’t yet hit the store shelves, a Korean website UNDERkg somehow managed to get two smartphones and post two hands-on videos to YouTube. They are available below, so you may take a look and say what do you think about Apple’s recently released iPhones. But before doing this, let’s talk about the handsets shown in the clips.

Following the announcement of 4 million iPhone 6 units sold in the first 24 hours, Apple has just announced that both iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus will become available in 22 more countries beginning Friday, September 26th. These countries include the Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Isle of Man, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. In case you don't know, this Friday, on September 19th, both 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch handsets will become available in such countries as the USA, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Puerto Rico, Singapore and the UK.